The Dress Shirt's Big Moment

Men Revel in Their Shirt Collections; Is There Such a Thing as Too Many?

Thanks in part to a wave of dapper dressers in pop culture like James Bond and Don Draper, the men's dress shirt is having its moment. Ray Smith takes a look inside the obsession, and dress-shirt aficionado Greg Root shares his perspective. Photo: "Mad Men"/AMC &"Casino Royale"/MGM.

Men can be a little obsessed with dress shirts, owning loads and geeking out on such details as stitching on buttons or cuffs, fabric weight, and how stiff a collar stands up when worn under a jacket or sweater without a tie. Some men say they're just being practical: More shirts mean less laundry. Others just can't help themselves.

Shirt Care

The man's shirt is having a moment. Stores are giving shirts more prominence. Barneys New York's Madison Avenue flagship store recently freed shirts from their plastic bags and boxes to display them colorfully on its shelves. British brands such as Thomas Pink and Charles Tyrwhitt have brought brighter colors, bolder patterns and slimmer fits to the U.S. Men are more free to go far beyond white and French blues into more daring territory like gingham checks and lilac hues.

Men tend to underestimate or play down their number. Shirt makers say the magic number of shirts the average man should have in his closet hovers around 20. Their considerations include a man's need to wear a clean shirt for five business days and have another five for the next week, while the dirty ones are sent out for laundering. The average life expectancy of a shirt is about 35 to 50 washes, or roughly two years, figures the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute, a Laurel, Md., trade group.

ENLARGE

The Hamilton Shirts store and factory in Houston sells shirts from $195 to $495.
Hamilton Shirts

The top 50 customers at Ledbury, an online shirt retailer, each own, on average, at least 60 shirts, says Paul Trible, who co-founded the Richmond, Va., shirt company four years ago with a friend after realizing how much they both loved shirts. One customer owns 242, he says. "He buys two of everything."

Ledbury, with its colorful and patterned shirts, caters to repeat customers with a new collection of five shirts each week, available in limited quantities for a limited time. Online, there is a day and hour countdown clock on each shirt.

The shirt is both a fun purchase and a wardrobe workhorse. In business-casual offices, the shirt is flexible enough to work with or without a sport coat. And for men who still wear suits, dress shirts are what colleagues see during the day when jackets come off. New shirts also give a suit worn more than once in a week or two a different look.

Sales of men's dress shirts rose 9% to $2.9 billion last year, according to market researcher NPD Group, even as sales of men's suits fell.

Mavis Kelsey III, a 35-year-old energy investor in Houston, has a closet devoted to dress shirts. He figures there are about 80 to 100 shirts in there. "I really don't know," he says.

ENLARGE

The Ledbury store at the online retailer's headquarters in Richmond, Va.
Rob Bratney/Ledbury

He likes the variety. "I hate laundry," he says. "I have enough shirts only to have to go to the laundry service three times a year." When they come back from the laundry, he hangs each on a wooden hanger, organized by shade. "It's like walking in my closet and seeing a rainbow of color," he says.

Mr. Kelsey's shirts are custom made by Hamilton Shirts, a 131-year-old shirt maker in Houston. He orders "maybe 20 shirts" about twice a year, sometimes six of the same shirt so that he can wear the style often without wearing them out.

He prefers slightly longer point collars. He likes the band on the neck to be on the high side and the cuffs to have one button, not two. A pocket is a must.

A pocket is the No. 1 request from men on their custom shirts, says David Hamilton, co-owner of Hamilton Shirts. Its shirts, from off-the-rack to bespoke, range from about $195 to $495.

"They want it that size for their iPhone, or that depth for their glasses, or a hidden interior pocket at the bottom of the shirt to carry cash," says Mr. Hamilton. Some men want the thread color on the buttonholes to be different from the shirt. Others ask for horn buttons.

Terrence O'Connor buys so many shirts that his custom shirt maker has threatened to cut him off until he really needs new ones. The 65-year-old New York judge recalls he replied: "I said, 'HMMM, you've been talking to my wife.' " He says he owns "more than 50 but less than 100" dress shirts.

Mr. O'Connor has his shirts made by Carl Goldberg, owner of CEGO Custom Shirtmaker in New York. Mr. Goldberg says some men come to his shop twice a year and buy a lot of shirts, which cost between $175 and $275, each time. "A fellow who is buying 14 shirts, we might not see him for another year and a half," he says.

Greg Root says he's drawn to colors or patterns that pop. The 45-year-old chief executive of SuperGraphics, a Seattle design company, owns about 120 dress shirts, 60 of which are in season and reside in his main closet.

His wife, Kiki, teases him often about his collection. "It's definitely too much," she says. Occasionally, he tries to shield new purchases from her. "Sometimes he'll hide them in his car for a little while," says Mrs. Root. "They'll come out eventually."

Mr. Root sends his shirts out to a longtime family-favorite dry cleaner. Yet he is so obsessed with the way his shirts look that he will re-press them after they come back from the cleaner.

Acclaimed shows including AMC's "Mad Men" and Netflix's "House of Cards" feature male characters in pristine, crisp dress shirts without a jacket when in their offices.

Jay Brown, a 35-year-old interim budget director for the city of Richmond, Va., found shirt love watching "Casino Royale," the 2006 James Bond film starring Daniel Craig. As the secret agent was getting ready for a poker game, Mr. Brown was struck by the fit and fabric. He watched the credits to find out more. Then he went online to research and watched YouTube videos on made-to-measure shirts.

"That's when my collection of shirts really began to grow," Mr. Brown says.

He owns more than 40. Going to shops that offer made-to-measure shirts gave him more options than local department stores, and he began trying details like French cuffs, pockets, monograms and no-show buttons.

Mr. Brown tried shopping at Ledbury on a colleague's recommendation. He has purchased 15 Ledbury shirts in the past four months. "I like options," he says. In his closet the shirts are hung by color, from purple to lighter purples from dark pinks to light pinks, to blues and so on.

Look at an old Cary Grant movie from the fifties; nothing he wears would be inappropriate today. Nothing is extreme in any way in fit, color, or mixture of parts. That is style, not fashion. He wore the clothes, not vice versa.

Thanks for identifying and explaining other men's habits and attitudes in collecting shirts. My significant other thinks that I am obsessive-compulsive with a closet full of shirts. I need a lot of shirts to go with my hundreds of ties!!

I found it hard to relate to this story based on this quote: "I have enough shirts only to have to go to the laundry service three times a year." I guess we all are compulsive about something. And for some, it is shirts.

For me, I chose Brooks Brother's shirts bought on occasional sale. In White, Blue, Pink, Ecru and a few pencil stripe and checkered for variety. The tie is the accent.

"...people can tell if ...""... fooling themselves if they think that people don't notice..."

Nah. Nobody cares. Not really. It is all in your little world that anyone would care about men's clothing. This is the phrase for you "... a legend in his own mind".

Ninety nine percent of men have a personal level of comfort and style, and don't really care how other people look at them. Really. If you care at all on how other people judge your clothes, well, all I can say is "have a good life". I am glad that I am not you.

Without too much sarcasm involved, can someone tell me when men's fashion dictated that men wear suits that are at least two sizes too small? The picture of the young man in the article superimposed on the Daniel Craig photo looks for the world like his jacket button will burst at any minute. I see it on television, in print adds for department stores, and even in GQ. Maybe it is time for me to take the dirt nap, but for crying out loud, can't men's fashion simply agree on at least the size? Every nite I watch the Tonight Show, I feel sorry for Jimmie Fallon. He buttons his suit jacket and it looks like he can't breathe.

About 4 yrs. ago I was spenting about $75 - $89 for cotten dress white shirts. Then I found Costco sold thier shirts for $15 (now $17) and no noticeable difference. Now Costco has several colors and prints. You can also buy the wood hangers too.

The fact is simple: Some men put effort into how they present themselves to the world, while others don't.

Those who put in little to no effort are fooling themselves if they think that people don't notice.

Even if I were the smartest man in the world, or the richest man in America, I wouldn't change the effort I put in to my attire. Pressed clothes that fit well, polished shoes, a watch, a tie with a nice knot, etc. indicates to people that (at a minimum) you pay attention to detail. These were all things I learned in the U.S. military - how to present the correct "military bearing."

If you don't want to put effort in, that's fine. You don't have to tell people, because it will often be obvious. However, you are in no position to criticize another man who does.

I bought a Men’s Wearhouse white shirt permanent press all cotton with French Cuffs. I wanted to see how long the permanent press would last. After five years and 200 washes* it still looked like the Virgin Mary pressed it. Yes the cuffs were ragged but if your cufflinks are wild no one will notice. Okay at least the cattle did not bellow in laughter.

Out of curiosity, I checked the prices on Ledbury's website and nearly fell out of my chair. Hard to justify paying $150 for a shirt when I can acquire a comparable shirt at Costco for $20. Difficult to imagine that the Ledbury shirt is 7x better than the one at Costco. Reminds of something I had read about a $10 shirt with a $100 horse emblazoned on it :)

Chris, as a retired military officer I agree with you 100% on the importance to detail in how you dress, especially when it comes to shirts, jackets and pants that are clean, pressed and fit well. The correct, well shined shoes are also very important.

When I was in the military I looked like every other officere walking around. I looked forward to retiring and working in the civilian world where I could express a personal sense of style. Unfortunately, I discovered that most men wear pretty much the same corporate "uniform" every day. So, where I like to "distinguish" myself from the other corporate functionaries, and express my personal sense of style,is in my accessories. I like my ties and shirts to draw attention through their color(s) and design and in doing so to draw attention to me. That's when I want the observer to notice my cuffliks, tie bar (never a tie tac which will ruin a tie over time), pocket hanky which is colorful, silk and coordinated, my watch which is subtle, bracelet (sometimes) and the pen in my pocket. My cufflinks and tie bars are the most unusual that I can find, which usually means antiques and collectibles from eBay and antique stores. Some of my ties are also "vintage" from the 40's and 50's.

I could spend $100's for a shirt or tie and probably 1 in 100 or 1,000 would know the difference. Same with suits, shoes, etc. It's not how much you spend on what you wear, it's how you wear it.

Well, how do you know? All the old pictures are black and white aren't they? I seriously doubt drab was the order of the day.

Reminds me of "Colonial" paint colors. Someone finally scientifically analyzed the washed-out original paints in some old Colonial period houses and discovered that all the washed-out muted tones were just faded. The actual as-painted colors were screamingly vivid and garish.

I guess our rub is in the term "classic". I don't think bright checkered shirts are "classic" I think they are trendy, and in a few years people will look back and ask this guys, "what were you thinking?" If there was a time in the past when people wore bright checkered shirts with ties, I would also say that was a trend (fad) at that point in history. (although I don't recall any point in history when a tie with bright checkered shirts was commonplace)

Fashion is changing, and if this guy likes this style that is certainly his prerogative. Celebrate diversity in fashion. However, words mean things, and to have him say that his taste is classic, when it clearly is not, is what my issue is.

I'm 6'1" and have a BF of 14%. As an endurance runner, I'm pretty fit for someone pushing 60. A nicely tailored suit is essential, I agree. It's the style and the pattern that's being criticized, not the quality of the tailoring.

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